Ryan's Trip to the Orchard

Ryan had a great time at the apple orchard with Matt and Matt's friend, Tommy. They picked apples, ate donuts and played in the fun area. I wasn't able to go, but they brought me some of those good donuts - yum! Later in the week, Ryan needed an apple for preschool, so he was able to take one from his trip to the orchard.
Thanks to Aunt Carol & Grandma for chauffeuring Ryan to Jonamac's!

Weekend Getaway to Starved Rock

Our Fall getaway was to Utica, IL and the Starved Rock area. There's a new hotel (well, 5 years new now) that's great for the kids - Grizzly Jack's Grand Bear Resort. They have an indoor waterpark, indoor amusement area, playground, and a train shuttle that takes guests from the main hotel to other villas on the property (we didn't know about the train...imagine our surprise when we arrived!). We also went to Starved Rock State Park for dinner and a hike that was appropriate for a 4 year old....you know, you have to save enough energy to get back. We took B's stoller as far as we could, but then Jason was a trooper and carried B on his shoulders for the rest of the hike.

Our little monkey!

Brandon is turning into quite a little monkey!! Faster than a speeding bullet he climbs on the chair and then onto the table........




Ryan never climbed on things like this. It's so funny to see the unique traits that each one has.

Family Day at the CAT Proving Grounds

Recently we had the great opportunity to attend Family Day at the Caterpillar Peoria Proving Grounds...this is where Uncle Chris "works." Although after seeing all the toys at the Proving Grounds, I'm not sure that much 'work' actually gets done :)

The Proving Grounds are located in Washington, IL and the campus consists of many large buildings where they're able to bring the big tractors inside for tests or work, as well as a huge open playground with lots of dirt, Dirt & DIRT. They also have a cafeteria on-site and 'cubeland' -- where the employees have desk space.

Uncle Chris lives just down the road.

Here's a photo opp with the CAT race car.


This sure is a BIG wheel.


There were several opportunities to climb aboard a big tractor! Brandon loved his opportunity to drive.


One of the activities was a demo by this team. The men in red shirts are the Operators.


This was one of the neatest activities, at least I thought so! The kids got to sit in this little CAT tractor which was lined up with a bowling alley. A bowling ball went in the little scoop and the kids got to dump the ball down the alley.....STRIKE!!


This was pretty cool too. The CAT guys/gals rigged up these cars just for Family Day with some of the data collection computers that they use for the big tractors. As you drove the car around the course, your speed and other data was collected and displayed (see the big screen right above Jason's head?).


Family Day opened with the raising of this very big flag. They served us lunch in this building. Notice how the ceilings are like 50 feet tall?! I think it was the biggest building I've ever been in. They use it to conduct tests on the tractors. Doors are sealed so that a consistent temperature is maintained throughout the duration of the test.


This is the tractor that Uncle Chris supports. I think the name is 980H. There's an entire team of CAT guys (& yes, some gals) that work on just this one.

Another big truck that was on display.

Jason & Ryan climb aboard! I think this is one of the big dump trucks that's normally used in mining operations.

Uncle Chris took Ryan on this big tractor....he had a great view from waaayy UP there! Notice Chris' yellow shirt? It had VOLUNTEER stamped on the back. He was assigned cotton candy duty. Unfortunately we arrived about 15 min too late to see him up to his arm pits in cotton candy.

Thanks Uncle Chris for inviting us and for volunteering so that the event could take place. It was a neat day!

Family Photos

Some recent photos we had taken to celebrate Brandon's first birthday and Ryan's fourth! If only they would behave as well when I'm behind the camera :)

Day Out with Thomas

This was Ryan & Jason's 2nd event, but the 1st for Brandon and I. And we took Mattie-Matt along with us. Having visited the Illinois Railway Museum on a non-Thomas weekend, I was amazed at the transformation in the facilities and the number of people that were there to see Thomas! For us train geeks, it was a fun day!

An official picture with Thomas the Tank Engine....

On the way to see Thomas...2 boys excited for the day ahead!

A ride on one of the electric cars that the museum runs, but this wasn't our ride on the Thomas coach.

The 2 older boys had lots of fun playing on this hand car.

My kid is kinda timid...when this electric car started rolling, Ryan reached over and grabbed Matt's leg. Don't worry, their seats were safe!

A special train that was on display - the Leviathon (leviathon63.com). It is a working steam engine and will be running at the IRM in September.

This was taken right before Brandon fell asleep on a ride on this electic car.

Tried to take a picture of the duo on this caboose, but didn't get much cooperation.

Matt on the caboose

They also had other activities...model train displays, tatoos, jump houses and this dragon blow-up course. It was probably 100 degrees in there, but the boys thought it was great!

Checking out one of the model train displays....but don't touch!! Or the bigger train geeks will get you!

Marshmellow Feast!

I'm a bad Mom for posting this, but can't resist. This morning Ryan dumped 1/2 a bag of mini marshmellows all over the floor. He claims he was trying to see if they were open (ok, whatever!). So I gave him a bowl and told him to clean them up. He was putting one in the bowl, and then eating one, one in the the bowl and then eating one. And then along came Brandon, and he discovered the marshemellows on the floor. Pretty soon there were no marshmellows on the floor but none in the bowl either! Wonder where they went??....